The Swings
by Mimi Dear
Summary: Even child's play can leave Ichigo with cuts and bruises. Yuzu and Karin certainly seem to enjoy watching.


I moved and now I live downtown, close to a park. I saw a father and daughter swinging like this and thought it was just the sweetest thing I ever saw.

Be kind to me! I'm rusty. Also all reviews are greatly appreciated.

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They're young, very young. Little Yuzu and Karin aren't even old enough for school yet.

Ichigo isn't very old either but he's treated like an adult, and the moments when he collapses back into childhood are ones that scare him.

It's August, and later in the afternoon, when the summer temperatures are relievedly cooler. The three siblings are at the small park a few blocks from their home. The park is neither plush nor plentiful but it's enough: a public pool, a playground, some trees, sand, and slightly sharp grass.

No longer content to play on the jungle gym with Karin, Yuzu tugs insistently at the blue sleeves of Ichigo's button up shirt. The fabric ripples over the already square, mature curve of his shoulders.

"Ichigooooooo, take me on the swings!" she says, doing a little bounce. Her hair bobs and her pink dress becomes slightly askew over her soft childish frame. Karin hears of the plan and comes running over.

"No no no Ichigo, me first, me first!" cries Karin competitively, grabbing his other sleeve.

"Aaahh, Yuzu, Karin, what if you fall off again and I get in trouble with dad?" he asks, unhappily recounting the last time they had gone on the swings and how both his sisters had to get stitches.

With a groan and a wince, Ichigo's head tilts to one side and he sees from the corner of his eye, a passing woman with a dog give the trio a strange look. Eager to avoid her glare, (after all, didn't he already get enough of that at school?), he scoops up Karin and Yuzu's deserted shoes from the sand and dumps them on the bench, heading in the direction of the swings.

Yuzu's hands clap together happily, and a sly look crosses Karin's face as she dashes forward to catch up with Ichigo's long steps, mirrored by long shadows created by the dimming sun.

He chooses a swing and immediately both girls try to squeeze into his lap, each petite sister on one of his legs and their arms holding onto him and to the swings chain. Ichigo sort of sighs and sort of laughs, but doesn't say anything. Mixed emotions are often his favorite because you never get the same combination twice.

So Ichigo starts swinging, and none of them speak, as though the wind whistling in their ears says enough.

This is the fifth time in seven days that their father has been called to emergency surgeries or accidents or God knows what, and Ichigo has had to babysit. They've spent this whole summer apart, with Ichigo at a friend's house, or locked up in his room studying, and the twins "helping" their father with the medical stuff, and now in the last week before school, they've been together all day.

Four days ago, Ichigo became bored in the house and took Yuzu and Karin with him to the park, where he learned they had never been taught how to swing.

"Seriously?" the baffled Ichigo had asked. His question was answered a few seconds later when Karin fell off the swing after a few pumps of her legs and started crying.

Ichigo remembered how his mother taught him, and promptly pulled Karin onto his lap and began swinging. At first she screamed in surprise, but later asked him to stop being so lazy and pump his legs more so they could go higher.

Ever since then, they had asked every day to go on the swings, and after the third day, his legs were beginning to get sore.

"Did you know," says Ichigo suddenly, "I used to jump off these?"

Both girls look up at him questioningly. "Like... in the air? Like you jumped off while you were swinging?" asks Yuzu. She had seen some boys at the park doing that once.

Ichigo nods, but Karin's scowl is clear. "I don't think you could anymore! You're too old, Ichigo." she teases.

Ichigo's feet skid onto the sand and he looks down at the two of them on his lap, one eyebrow raised very, very high. He shoves Karin, and Yuzu gently slides off his leg of her own accord.

After the walk home, they can see their father's face light up from afar and he bursts from the clear doors of the center with a mad laugh, home from work early, and wipes at the blood and cuts on his son's cheek.

"Ah, the pleasure of youthful summers!"

"Yes, dad."


End file.
